The Freedom Broker

Author: K. J. Howe

Publisher: Quercus Books

Release Date: February 7, 2017

Rating: 4.5 Stars

Reviewer: Jessica Higgins

A fast paced, action packed story that will keep readers guessing until the very end!

When Thea Paris was a little girl she witnessed her brother being kidnapped. He was returned to the family after nine months, but that experience would shape the future for everyone in the Paris family. Thea is one of the best kidnap and ransom specialists in the world and she is the only woman in the freedom broker business. She is the team leader at Quantum Security International’s black-ops team, which goes on sensitive rescue missions to recover high value targets. On the eve of the party for her father’s sixtieth birthday party, Christos Paris is taken from his yacht, mere days before the biggest deal of his career. Everyone aboard the boat is killed and Thea waits for a ransom demand that is slow to come. Pushing aside the fact that she is too close to the case, she throws herself in to the job more determined to find her father than any case she has ever worked. The more she digs, the more the past comes to haunt them all and it becomes clear this is no ordinary case.

It is hard to believe that this is the debut novel. Howe wrote a very intriguing fast paced thriller that I very much enjoyed. One of the best aspects of the novel was the pace, it flowed easily even with chapters of different length. This actually helped because as the action intensified, the chapters got shorter making the pages fly faster and faster. The main character, Thea is the heroine, but is also very relatable with her weakness, diabetes. She is reluctant to share this information with anyone because she doesn’t want them to view her as weak because of it. I have read kidnap books before but never one where the focus is on the team that is sent in to get them back. It was a unique view of how things unfold on that side of the story. There was a fair amount of back and forth between past and present, usually this can be confusing and take the reader out of the story. Howe was able to make the transitions smoothly with the past scenes providing emotional support for the characters in the story. There were a few graphic moments of sexual content and some adult language making this only appropriate for a mature audience.

I picked this up after seeing a favorite author recommended it and I am really glad I did. I really hope there will be more to come from Thea Paris and her rescue missions. I recommend this book to lovers of suspense thrillers.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within are my own.